Homelessness used to secure tenancies
Households are making themselves homeless so they stand a chance of being allocated a social tenancy, the National Housing Federation has said.
The umbrella body for housing associations is calling for reform of the allocations system, and has launched a consultation on the subject.
The paper calls for greater flexibility for housing associations and local authorities to draw up allocations systems based on their local housing conditions.
It describes a ‘vicious circle where more people become homeless to maximise their chances, and reduce their waiting time for accessing social housing’.
It states: ‘If we do not change how the homelessness duties interact with the allocation framework we will not achieve fairer routes into social housing.’
There are also fears that the system misses many whose circumstances do not fit within the definition of priority need.
The federation is inviting responses from the sector to the consultation, which closes on 30 September.
Housing minister Grant Shapps announced last weekend that the government intends to introduce legislation to give local authorities more freedom over how they allocate social housing, including prioritising the claims of people with a strong local connection.
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Readers' comments (45)
Anonymous | 01/09/2010 9:40 am
It would be better if everybody formed an orderly queue outside our office and whoever is at the front gets the house. That would sort out who needs a house and who doesn't!
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Sidney Webb | 01/09/2010 10:06 am
Surely this contradicts the belief that everyone wants to get out of social housing.
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Michael Read | 01/09/2010 10:16 am
How is it this late in the day that this is being reported.
Waiting lists are useful tools for politicians who can rail against shortages. They are irrelevant.
The priority list is the real waiting list. And getting onself defined as homeless is the means of getting on the real waiting list.
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Outside Housing | 01/09/2010 10:45 am
The article says
"It describes a ‘vicious circle where more people become homeless to maximise their chances, and reduce their waiting time for accessing social housing’."
How many more? How did they get the information?
I doubt the Nat Fed know much at all about the process of applying as homeless since that isn't their business. And I'm pretty sure this is somebody there making a sweeping statement to suit their purposes.
If they did know about applying as homeless and all that entails, being placed in temporary accommodation and then having little or no choice of where they ultimately go actually means, they would know this is total rubbish.
People generally do not make themselves homeless. The Nat Fed should stick to what they do best, whatever that is?
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Anonymous | 01/09/2010 11:00 am
Applicants are very knowledgeable about the consequences of declaring yourself homelessness, according to a study of ethnic allocation by Salford University earlier this year.
outside housing should stick to what he does best - making meaningless statements in total ignorance without any thought.
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Outside Housing | 01/09/2010 11:10 am
Annonymous (work for the Nat Fed do you?)
Such a shame, someone of your stature sinking to the level of personal insults.
Anyway, excuse my ignorance; I had no idea I should place more importance on University studies rather than on the knowledge of those working with homeless people for many years.
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kass | 01/09/2010 11:33 am
"...including prioritising the claims of people with a strong local connection."
1) A pregnant single woman from a large extended family of parents and grandparents, brothers, cousins, uncles, aunts, etc. etc. who have been in the area for at least 70 years and know their area inside out;
2) a pregnant single woman who has been in the area for only a month and no family or relatives of any sort and knows no one local and has little clue of what is going on locally;
They go and view a property and they both ssay they want it, which one of the 2 will get it then?
I would have thought N 2 it the one more in need, but according to Shapps should go to N1.
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kass | 01/09/2010 11:39 am
What about the scandal of single people being at the bottom of the pile all the time?
Why do they have to get in a relationship and have children and get dependents to have any chance of access to social housing?
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Anonymous | 01/09/2010 11:42 am
Perhaps, it would be better if the women in both cases didn't think that if they got pregnant they could get a homeless designation and a passport to social housing.
Pregnancy is the perverse incentive into social housing using homelessness as the passport.
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kipzilla | 01/09/2010 11:52 am
Anonymous | 01/09/2010 11:42 am
"Perhaps, it would be better if the women in both cases didn't think that if they got pregnant they could get a homeless designation and a passport to social housing.
Pregnancy is the perverse incentive into social housing using homelessness as the passport."
Is there not even the possibility that both of these women were in jobs and relationships at the time of conception?!?
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